While investors were anticipating Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s pronouncements from Jackson Hole the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that personal income increased $42.3 billion, or 0.3 percent.

The Federal Reserve released the latest edition of the Beige Book on Wednesday, more formally known as the “Summary of Commentary on Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District,” which noted that the U.S. economy has been growing “gradually in July and early August across most regions and sectors.”

According to the most recent S&P/Case-Shiller report on housing U.S. home prices saw positive growth for all three headline composites year-over-year during the second quarter of 2012.

The Fed’s annual symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyo., is later this week, and Fed chairman Ben Bernanke will speak at the event on Friday, which has set off the latest round of speculation about whether the central bank will try to stimulate the economy once again.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in its biennial Displaced Workers Summary, which tracks workers who lost jobs that they held for more than three years, that 6.1 million workers were displaced from such long-held positions during the period from January 2009 through December 2011.

New home sales were up in July to an annualized rate of 372,000 units, compared with a revised June total of 359,000, according to the Census Bureau.

According to the National Association of Realtors, total U.S. existing-home sales grew 2.3 percent to an annualized rate of 4.47 million in July from 4.37 million in June, coming in at 10.4 percent above the 4.05 million-unit rate in July 2011.

The European Central Bank has been the subject of a new wave of speculation and news reports in recent days, to the effect that the sort-of central bank for the euro-zone will begin buying bonds of the currency bloc’s weaker nations to prevent a zone meltdown.